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Pillars of Hercules (Delilah Dirk #3) by Tony Cliff , 247 pages. First Second (Roaring Brook (Holtzbrinck)), 2018 $18 Language: PG (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG BUYING ADVISORY: HS -ADVISABLE AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH In this third graphic novel, Delilah and Selim are on a new adventure. It the 1800’s and many new archaeological  discoveries are being made. Delilah is usually all about the plunder, but thanks to a new companion, Van Hassel, she gets a touch of fame, and sort of likes it. Together the trio go on a long journey searching for an ancient city. Delilah has a few enemies who would like to stop her. Luckily she has Selim, who always has her back and is a bit more thoughtful. This book could function as a stand alone. Its fairly tame in the language, mature content and violence department –but the plot and vocabulary are fairly complex, making this book a better choice for high school readers.   This book felt like reading an Indiana Jones movie, lots of exotic loca

The Broken Vow (Spill Zone #2) byScott Westerfeld , 222 pages. First Second (Roaring Brook (Holtzbrinck)), 2018 $23 Language: PG13 (4 swears; 2 S, 2F); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG BUYING ADVISORY: HS -ADVISABLE AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH In this second graphic novel of the series, Addison has had enough of the creepy zone –a place that killed her parents (See book 1). Now she just wants to take the money she earned and move her and her sister away. But her sister refuses to go because her possessed doll needs the energy of the zone to recharge. In the meantime a north Korean teen named Jae is looking for Addison, he believes they have the ability to negate the zone, shut it down. But others are looking for both of them and things come together in a dramatic way. First off, the artwork is really unique, creepy, and cool. Fans of the first book will love this second book, it was impossible to put down. I thought the plot was a new and interesting twist and yet kept that stranger things f

The Legend of Grimm’s Woods (Hocus Pocus) by Manuro Gorobei , 295 pages. INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL. Quirk Books, 2018. $10. 9781683690573 Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE. AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE Hocus and Pocus are going to a school where they learn how to care for the earth and train magical creatures. As part of a challenge to get their creatures permanently and graduate, they must find two lost kids. At this point in the story, the reader picks a character to follow and jumps around the story based on decisions they make. Hocus and Pocus ultimately find the kids in the house of a witch, but the journey to get there will differ for each reader. The plot of this book is simple and clear, but the way of reading it makes it difficult. When you make a choice in the book, you go to a different number panel and sometimes you jump to a new panel after reading just one. Sometimes you read for a longer time before you jump, and t

The Secret of the Wind (Cottons) by Jim Pascoe and Heidi Arnhold , 242 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. First Second, 2018. $20. Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13. BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL. AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE In a world of rabbits and foxes, there are a lot of forces at play beyond the natural rivalry between the two. In The World of Lavender, the rabbits are trying to balance industry and art and each rabbit must play their role to produce enough carrots. Bridgebelle is walking this line, working by day in the factory, and spending her free time practicing art mixed with magic.  I think this graphic novel will appeal to those readers interested in dystopian societies, but I don’t predict the appeal will go much wider than that. The book is reminiscent of Watership Down. I found the story hard to follow and the characters hard to keep straight, but the theme of art versus industry is compelling. There is an attempted suicide in this book that is a bit

Mayfly by Jeff Sweat , 355 pages.  Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), 2018.  $18. Language: R (53 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 (mild sex talk); Violence: PG-13 (fighting, cannibalism mentioned) BUYING RECOMMENDATION: MS, HS - OPTIONAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH Jemma and others in the Holy Wood just barely manage to keep a living going.  But in a world where you are going to die when you turn 17, and sometimes earlier, all life is desperate.  AT 15 Jenna is supposed to become a Mama - doing her part to produce a new generation.  But if Jemma doesn’t escape, then Apple, the best friend, the boy she is just beginning to realize that she likes in a different way than just “rolling” will die.Together Jemma, Apple, Lady, Pico, the refugee from the Malibus, and even the strange Palo they find themselves saddled with, must journey across hostile territories.  Jemma knows there are answers out there -- somewhere.  Maybe maybe a cure to The End.  Jemma and her life are compelling to read.  

The Bands of Bravery (Knights Club) by Shuky, Waltch, and Novy . INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL.  Quirk Books, 2018. $10. 9781683690559 Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL. AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE Three young farmers are determined to leave their laborious lifestyle for the life of a knight. To do so they must go through knight training and each brother has different strengths to bring to the journey - agility, strength, or intelligence. The reader picks which boy to follow through his journey and jumps to different frames based on the decisions the reader makes. Along the way the reader keeps track of the things they collect and the time it takes.  There is a lot of flipping back and forth throughout this book. The tracker is at the front of the book and as you pick your journey in this book, you have to hunt for the correct numbered panel. I think this could be a turn off for a young reader, but I like that you could get through t

My Baby Crocodile by Gaetan Doremus . PICTURE BOOK. Enchanted Lion Books, 2016. $19. 9781592701926 BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS, HS - OPTIONAL. AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW A crocodile finds a knight alone in the swamp and mistakes him for a baby crocodile, given that the shape of his helmet looks like a crocodile. Crocodile takes care of him and falls in love with him as his baby. Then, on a swimming expedition, the crocodile realizes that his baby is really a human and the point of view of the book switches to the knight. The knight realizes that the crocodile isn’t going to eat him, but begins to think about killing the crocodile and being a hero back home. The point of view then shifts back and forth as each of them considers killing the other and then dismissing that thought. In the end, they part in peace.  This book is quirky. I think there are a lot of layers that could be peeled back in this interesting tale. I see its potential mostly in a high school unit on war and diplomatic differenc

Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas, 240 pages.  Sleeping Bear Press, 2018.  $16.   Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.   BUYING ADVISORY:  EL, MS – ADVISABLE   AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE   Belle arrives in Mingo, Colorado with her ailing mother and brood of siblings to meet up with their father who has been starting their homestead while they moved from Iowa.  Even though Belle is only twelve, Belle and her older sister quickly fall into the mother roll and help around the farm.  They befriend a woman homesteader, Lizzie, who is a bright spot in their bleak environment and helps them figure out life on the prairie.  When Belle’s mother’s health doesn’t improve, Belle, her father and her sister feel hopeless and have to depend on each other and their kind neighbors to survive.   Sandra Dallas does this setting (Midwest) and time period (1910) so well, whether she is writing adult or middle reader.  I loved the Martin family and wanted them to succeed and was totally caught

Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time by Michael Palin Vancouver: Greystone Books USD $28 Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada CDN $37 Reviewed by John Wilson In the past century and a half, dozens of books have been published dealing with the lost Franklin Expedition but only a few have stood the test of time—springing to mind are Richard Cyriax’s magisterial Sir John Franklin’s Last Arctic Expedition and David Woodman’s examination of the Inuit testimony, Unravelling the Franklin Mystery . Many are stylistically dated or poorly written or just plain weird, but for anyone wanting to add to the corpus of Franklin literature today, there is a much more dangerous pitfall—time. As Michael Palin puts it in Erebus , after Lieutenant Schwatka’s return from his exploration of King William Island in 1880, “The indignation that fuelled the search, the wounded national pride that gave it such imperative, and the appetite of newspapers…for the grisly detai